Parkash Singh Badal, one of the eldest politicians and five-time Punjab chief minister died at 95 at a private hospital in Mohali on Tuesday. He is survived by a son and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and a daughter Parneet Kaur. Punjab lost its eldest political stalwart whose politics revolved around the interest of the state. He has been the epicenter of the state politics in the last 4 decades regardless he was in power or in Opposition.
Oldest person to contest in election
Badal was not the one to give up easily, on life or on politics. He was a hardcore political animal. He remained on political battle ground even at the age of 94. Only last year, the Shiromani Akal Dal fielded the patriarch again from home turf Lambi in Punjab’s Muktsar district for the assembly elections. However, he lost but entered the record books for being the oldest person to fight an election in the country. This was his 14th electoral battle in a long political career that began when he became the sarpanch of Badal village in Bathinda district.
Badal had been part of the movement for a separate Punjabi-speaking state. The grand old man of Punjab politics first became chief minister in 1970, heading a coalition government that did not complete its term. He was also the CM in 1977-80, 1997-2002, 2007-12 and 2012-2017.
He was MLA 11 times, losing an election for the state assembly only twice. In 1977, he joined Morarji Desai’s government briefly as the Agriculture minister at the Centre.
In 2008, Badal handed over the reins of the SAD, which he had headed from 1995, to son Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also became the deputy chief minister under him.
Political journey
Born on December 8, 1927 in Abul Khurana near Malout, Badal graduated from the Forman Christian College in Lahore. His first political posts were the sarpanch of Badal village and the chairman of the block samiti. He entered the state assembly from Malout in 1957 as the Congress nominee. In 1969, he won the Gidderbaha assembly seat on the SAD ticket.
When Gurnam Singh, the then chief minister, defected to the Congress in 1970, the SAD regrouped and forming the government with the support of the Jana Sangh.
When Gurnam Singh, the then chief minister, defected to the Congress in 1970, the SAD regrouped and forming the government with the support of the Jana Sangh. Badal then became the chief minister in the country, even if the coalition government lasted just a little more than a year. In 2017, when he ended his last stint as CM, he was among the oldest to have held that post.
Badal was re-elected in the 1972 elections, but as the SAD could not form a government, he became the leader of the Opposition. Badal was chief minister for 15 months in 1970-71 and for 32 months in 1977-1980.
During the 1977 elections, he again won from the Gidderbaha constituency and became the chief minister of the SAD-Janata Party government.
He was again elected to the state assembly in June 1980 and September 1985 elections from Gidderbaha assembly constituency.
Badal courted arrest during the Operation Bluestar in June 1984 when the Army had entered the Golden Temple complex at Amritsar to flush out militants.
